


Feast of Two Houses

by meredyd



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 23:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13692390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meredyd/pseuds/meredyd
Summary: Elanor Gamgee, the Queen, and a Shire-bred love story.





	Feast of Two Houses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Izilen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izilen/gifts).



“Elanorelle,” Aunt Estella would say to her often, placing a hand over her gold curls and trying to look quite serious. “You are a Gamgee in name but not in nature.” And then he would throw a quick glance at Sam-Dad or Mum, as if they had not also gone on many grand adventures and done many things even a Took or a Brandybuck would find quite remarkable, and they would all look at each other as if on some secret joke. 

But Elanor was aware of exactly what she meant. It was only a month yet in her service to the Queen and already she was at home in the presence of royalty. Frodo, her oldest brother and closest friend, had said that it would take her no time at all to be putting on airs and making Queen Arwen wait on _her_ , and asking him to call her Lady Elanor, and like most things he said in jest it was only half-true. 

She had not been frightened, as Sam-Dad had worried she might be, but rather filled with an insatiable curiosity all the time, the way she felt looking at a particular tall tree she wanted to climb. They did, however, call her Lady Elanor, which she had mentioned in every letter home, and she wore shoes and warm dresses made of billowy fabric, and wrapped up her curls as the ladies at court did. 

“My Queen,” Elanor said, bowing a little at the waist, although Arwen had told her multiple times there was no need, “Perhaps it is impolite to ask, but are you bored?”

Queen Arwen looked up from her desk, where she had been examining a map of annexations to a place called Greenholm, which Elanor had heard of but never visited. She was so very beautiful, and each time it was a wonderful surprise to look at her, despite their spending much time together. But she was beautiful in a way so opposite from Elanor’s own sunny prettiness it did not infringe on her considerable vanity, which Elanor would be the first to admit to. 

“It’s only that -“ she paused, considering her next words carefully. “The job of a maid-of-honor is very serious and important,” she saw Arwen’s mouth twitch delicately behind her hand. “But I believe we are supposed to provide you with some sort of entertainment or…”

“Lady Elanor of the Shire,” Queen Arwen said, with what passed for her as mischievousness. “I will admit, I’m a bit bored. There’s a number of charts and treaties and making nice with others involved in being Queen and that kind of thing can be trying even for the most diplomatic of souls. I’m sure you’ve become aware of that.”

Elanor nodded. “At first I thought it would all be glorious parties and,” she considers, “Lovely, and fun. But it’s not only that, it’s very hard work.” 

“Yes,” said Arwen. “It _is_ very hard work, and it’s work that Estel and I share, as your mother and father share their work together raising you and your siblings.”

“They say Mum is the real Mayor of Hobbiton. I don’t think they always say it it in a nice way, though.” 

Arwen grinned freely this time, and Elanor felt glad of it, as she liked more than almost anything else making other people smile and laugh. Minas Tirith was full of all kinds of people, but many of them were quiet and serious, and having a lot of brothers and sisters and cousins had prepared her for that. Elanor liked to make those kinds of people happy most, like Frodo and her sister Rose and even Sam-Dad, who sometimes needed a bit of a push. 

“If you come and take a look, right here, these are Shire lands under Gondor’s protectorate. We are considering adding this land here to the Farthings.”

“No hobbits live there,” said Elanor in awe, proud at once that she knew her letters so well. “Why, nobody lives there at all! I don’t know that many hobbits would be taken with the idea of exploring a brand new land, and all the way across the River.”

“You would, though, would you not?” asked Arwen. 

“I am not certain, My Queen,” replied Elanor, although her eyes sparkled with mirth, and she was sure Arwen knew she would like it very much. 

“But that is still a long way off. That is another thing about being Queen - you must plan for things so far in the future, you almost wonder if you should see them, or those who come after you, or those who come after them.” 

“It is good that you are Queen, then. Time doesn’t move quite the same way for you—oh. That was very rude of me, wasn’t it?” Arwen only shook her head. Her eyes were so gentle, and for a brief bright moment Elanor missed her mother with a fierce ache. 

“But we’ve gotten quite ahead of ourselves even now, haven’t we?," said the Queen, carefully. "What sort of entertainment did you have in mind, exactly? I could do to hear another story about your Shire. That would help me a great deal in my work. I have never visited, as the King has, and I want to know it as it is, and not as it might be some far off day.” 

Elanor beamed. “Well, I don’t know if any of my best stories are meant for such polite company. I can tell you a very nice one I've been thinking of, about the time my Uncle Merry and my Auntie Stella knew they had fallen in love, although it is quite absurd, and not at all grand as yours with King Elessar. 

“That sounds perfect,” said Arwen, setting aside her papers in careful order, and motioning for Elanor to join her as she did all but glide out of the Queen’s offices and into the larger palace hall, towards the courtyard. As they walked, keeping pace as well as she could on her short legs, Elanor told her story. 

...

“My Uncle Merry _loves_ clever plans and books and maps and all sort of things like that, so much so that you’d think he was going to be a scholar someday, although he is Master of Buckland, which is quite important, although not as important as my Uncle Pippin, who is Thain, and he and my Auntie Diamond were a match made by their families.”

At this Arwen seemed surprised. “I wasn’t aware that you couldn’t choose whom to marry, if you wished.” 

“It’s a bit complicated,” said Elanor, immediately feeling uncomfortable. “But…the Thain, in the Shire, is almost like what you would call a Prince. He will be very rich and grand and the most important of hobbits all his life, although he is also very silly, and does not like to as he says “give his responsibilities the attention they don’t deserve.” And perhaps if he were not so important, he could marry any lass he wanted to. Auntie Diamond is also from a grand family, but she is wonderfully kind, and she and Uncle Pippin surely love each other very much at this point. I do not know what kind of love it is, or if they know, just yet.” 

“I see,” said Arwen, and it was clear to Elanor that she did, and perfectly so. “Love found in those circumstances may grow and change. But I am glad to know you may marry whoever you choose, as my own children will.” 

“My Uncle Merry, though, certainly did marry for love, as he has known Auntie Stella all of his life, and I think that if there are a lot of ways to love someone, that is probably the best one. Mum and Dad knew each other all their lives too, so it was really only a matter of wait-and-seein’ as my Dad says. 

They were great playmates whenever Auntie’s brother, Fredegar Bolger, decided something was too scary or strange and Uncle wanted to investigate it anyway and find out all about it. Together they would write down all they found out, and go into the Old Forest and frighten everyone with the things they _say_ they saw there. Auntie Stella says herself they were “a pair of co-conspirating know-it-alls”. 

“When the bad times came to the Shire - my Sam-Dad tries not to tell me too much about those days, but I know more than he thinks - the Bolger family was very brave when it came to it, just like you Big Folk keep finding out most hobbits are, and by then it had been over a year since Auntie Stella had seen Uncle Merry and he was so tall now, and handsome and a great hero, but she refused to speak to him for months, until finally she poured a pint of beer on his head in the pub and told him that if her daft brother was allowed to be in on some great conspiracy she hadn’t been included in and almost lost him in besides, it’s not wonder they nearly failed on their quest. Auntie Stella is not very pretty at all, but she is the only hobbit I know smarter than Uncle Merry, and when she is angry she is very scary indeed.”

By now they had reached the courtyard. All around them grew grey and purple and white and silver flowers, fluttering on the late spring breeze. Elanor liked to dangle her feet off the high stone walls although she knew it was dangerous, so she sat beside the Queen on a small marble fountain, copying how she neatly folded her hands into her large sleeves. 

“Well,” Arwen said, indulgently, as Elanor struggled with the fabric. “That can’t be the end of the tale, can it?”

“Certainly not. It was Uncle Pippin who for the first time in his life got to call someone else a fool. He and Uncle Merry love each other more than anyone else in the whole of the world, even if they are now both wed, and so it was his words that finally got through.”

“Whatever did he say?” 

“You see, my Auntie Stella’s given name is for a star, which is very unusual for a hobbit. We aren’t on the whole given to bothering much with what’s above us if we can’t explain it, not like your people. And although most of us can’t know for sure what Uncle Pippin said that night, some of it certainly had to do with him explaining to Uncle Merry with great patience that no one else would think to care about stars and looking through telescopes and bothering innocent old haunted trees except Estella, and wouldn’t it only be fair to let her move to Buckland, where such nonsense was the stuff of the everyday, or else end up with someone who found him dreadfully boring!” 

“And this convinced him to ask for her hand?”

“Oh somewhat,” said Elanor. “It was rather helpful that she was there in the room as Uncle Pippin said all of these things, with a ring to propose to him with when he finally came to his senses.”

At this Arwen laughed, the kind of real laugh that made her resemble one of Elanor’s younger sisters far more than the impervious elf queen she was. 

“I think that is just as romantic as anything I have heard in a song or a poem", said Arwen.

“I will tell Auntie Stella that Queen Arwen Undomiel of the Reunited Kingdom has said so,” said Elanor. “She will be pleased, but not surprised.” 

*

**Author's Note:**

> LOTR was my first Real Fandom, and re-reading it for the first time in years has been a Feelings About Hobbits Experience for sure. This is for you, Izzy, my Tolkien buddy, the only person who could inspire me to write LOTR fic over a decade after the last time I did. <3


End file.
